Buckeye Blogger Network
Lenzelle Smith provided some critical points down the stretch.
Rushing out to a quick lead that they would never relinquish, the Buckeyes started strong and delivered Penn State’s 8th straight conference loss by a score of 65-51. The Buckeyes rode strong defense the majority of the way and prevented the Nittany Lions from finding enough offensive success to make a big difference in Thad Matta’s 17th straight win against PSU. Sam Thompson led the Buckeyes with 16 points and 6 rebounds, and was joined in double digit scoring by Lenzelle Smith and DeShaun Thomas who both put up 11. Penn State saw Jermaine Marshall (16), and D.J. Newbill (15) hit the double figures today.
Despite Dan Dakich indicating that the Nittany Lions were supremely confident, and more energetic than he’d ever seen a basketball team, Penn State struggled mightly with the OSU defense. Through an 11 and a half minute segment of the first half, the Nits were unable to buy a basket at all, and allowed the Buckeyes to take a double digit lead despite their own offensive ineptitudes. The Nittany drought did allow Thad Matta to experiment a little bit with his personnel, as he plugged Trey McDonald into the game for the most minutes since the preconference season.
The Nittany Lions made a few good adjustments at the half, and began to give the Buckeyes a hard time early in the second stanza. The Buckeyes responded by finding offensive success with Sam Thompson, who twice attacked the basket and drew a foul to help extend the lead. He followed that up later in the half with an excellent three pointer to help keep Penn State’s comeback attempt at bay for a while longer. But against this OSU team, it’s always seems to just be a matter of time before that comeback starts. With under 5 minutes to go and down 16, Penn State sank a couple baskets to put the Buckeyes on their heels. Unfortunately for the Nits, the Buckeyes did not back down like they have in previous games, and were able to right the ship enough to finish out the game.
Our friend Janelle checks in with a unique perspective on the school in Happy Valley.
Schadenfreude
I hate Penn State.
No, really, I loathe Penn State.
Now, when I tell people this these days, I’ll get responses telling me to have a heart and to have some sympathy for what they’ve been going through the past nine months.
They don’t realize that I grew up in Penn State territory, about an hour and a half away from State College. My dad is a Penn State fan. My grandparents are Penn State fans. My brother and sister-in-law are Penn State alumni. My mom and I are the lone ones that wear scarlet and gray in a sea of blue and white on football Saturdays in the fall.
As a kid, my dad used to take me to Penn State games to try to convince me to become part of “Nittany Nation.” It never worked. I was destined to be part of Buckeye Nation from day one. But I never imagined I would end up hating Penn State like I do.
Recently, I’ve spent time trying to find out where exactly my hatred for the Nittany Lions comes from.
It isn’t their players (although players like Moxie McGloin add fuel to the fire). It isn’t the school itself (I mean, it’s a school in the middle of nowhere…and since I go to Ohio State, The Best D&%# School in the Land, all I can do is feel sorry for students who end up in Happy Valley and not in Columbus). Up until recently, it wasn’t the coaching staff (although, even before this Sandusky scandal, I was never a Joe Paterno “fan”…as the rest of the world is finally starting to see, he was held in an almost god-like light by his supporters, and had way too much power over an entire town and even state). It’s not the new coaching staff.
No, my hatred comes from Penn State’s fans. It honestly has to be one of the worst fan bases in the entire country. Read More
10:15 PM – Make sure to stop back tomorrow for more live coverage from Indianapolis from WVaBuckeye and Gary Russell! A preview of tomorrow’s games will be up shortly to get you ready for all four excellent matchups.
10:00 PM – Gary Russell here from Indy finishing out today’s action. The second half started off with a flurry but Purdue really flexed its muscles in pulling away and beating Nebraska in the Husker’s first trip to the tourney by a score of 79-61. Today’s action reminded me of what the Big Ten is all about. While Minnesota’s overtime thriller was the best game of the day, the other games still showed us that the Big Ten has tremendous heart, determination, and class. Here’s to a great first day and an awesome second day.
9:00 PM – Gary Russell from Indy and Purdue is leading Nebraska 39-31 at halftime. Upset minded Nebraska kept it close early but they didn’t seem to have an answer for Purdue on the boards. The Boilermakers cashed in on their second chance points going up by 15 at one point. Bo Spencer hits a three and a lay up at the 2:03 mark shrinking the lead to 8. The teams trade baskets to close out the half putting us where we are at halftime.
7:40 PM – Northwestern’s dreams came to an end here in OT. A hot shooting Gopher squad made their free throws and some timely threes to post a 75-68 win. Shurna and Cobb combined for 45 of Northwestern’s points, while Andre Hollins lead Minnesota and all scorers with 25. Minnesota moves on to face TTUN tomorrow in game three of day 2.
This is still up for grabs, for whomever can take it.
Welcome to March.
Are you ready? Ready for tournament time?
The coaches are. Some of the coaches don’t usually care about the Big Ten Tournament – particularly Tom Izzo. The tournament rarely changes anything heading into the NCAA tournament, and the Regular Season Championship is considered more precious. But Tom Izzo seemingly changed his mind this season after being forced to share the regular season title with the Buckeyes and Wolverines,
We’re going to go win our championship back.
He’s ready for March. Are you?
You’d better be. This Big Ten Tournament promises to be one of the best yet. The field is deep with teams that want to win. Consider Northwestern, who has never been to the NCAA’s, and Minnesota, who would like to prove what they can do as a young team missing a key player. How about Purdue, with Robbie Hummel’s last go around. And that’s not even including Ohio State, Michigan State, and Michigan who would all love to be able to hold the tournament championship over their co-regular season title holders.
Just to name a few.
JoeD, WVaBuckeye, Dave, and I put our heads together and shared some of our thoughts on the Thursday matchups to get you ready for the first day of action.
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Jared Sullinger won the battle inside against PSU's Sasa Borovnjak.
The Buckeyes made short work of the Penn State Nittany Lions by a tally of 78-54 in their first and only meeting for the regular season. It was the 17th straight win for Ohio State over Penn State, and the 37th straight home victory, the second longest streak in the country. Jared Sullinger led all scorers with 20 points, and picked up a double-double with 13 rebounds. He was joined by William Buford and Aaron Craft with double digit scoring for the Buckeyes with 15 and 11 respectively. Tim Frazier led Penn State with 16 points and 4 assists.
Neither team seemed particularly on-the-ball to start the game. The Buckeyes miscued on several possessions, including a palming call on Lenzelle, and a poor entry pass from Buford. On the other end, Penn State committed an ugly turnover at the top of the key, and couldn’t seem to get the ball to drop through the hoop. The Nits even picked up a cheap early shooting foul, but couldn’t convert the free-throws into points.
After the first timeout, both teams began to pick up the energy. Penn State had already been attacking the basket and fighting for offensive rebounds, but finally started to pass the ball effectively to find the open looks against OSU’s defense. The Buckeyes, on the other hand, began to attack more aggressively. In particular, Aaron Craft began to feed his teammates in better positions to score quickly.
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The Nittany Lions, our old friends, are coming to town to play some basketball with our Ohio State Buckeyes! The game is set to tip at 6:30 PM in Value City Arena, and is being aired on the Big Ten Network.
While you wait, you should check out the websites of our Buckeye Blogger Buddies! the Buckeye Blog, OSU Silver Bullet, Scarlet and Game, Buckeye House Call, Our Honor Defend, Men of the Scarlet and Gray, and Fox Sports Ohio. They will all be joining us at 6 pm for the start of our liveblog.
If you’re looking for web-video for the game, try First Row Sports (warning: pop-up ads). Click the basketball tab, and you shouldn’t have any trouble finding the right game. I’ve heard people having issues with this website recently – if that’s still the case, let me know and we’ll hunt around for another source.
Go Bucks!
The Buckeyes invite the Penn State Nittany Lions into the Schott for their only regular season meeting of the year tomorrow. Let’s take a look.
State Penn
| School: | Pennsylvania State University |
| Location: | University Park, PA |
| Founded: | 1855 |
| Student Population: | 44,832 |
| School Type: | Public |
| Division: | NCAA |
| Conference: | Big Ten Conference |
| Stadium: | Bryce Jordan Center |
| Seating: | 15,261 |
| Built: | 1995 |
| Head Coach: | Pat Chambers |
| Year: | 1st |
Dr. Jon Woods dots the I in the first ever Second Script in a single game.
I’m not going to wax philosophic after that Penn State game. Being in the stadium for Dr. Wood’s last home game was wonderful – particularly getting a chance to shake his hand and thank him for everything after the game. The game, though, left a lot to be desired.
